Wear plate for brake hanger brackets



Jan. 1 9, 1960 R E L 2,921,653

WEAR PLATE FOR BRAKE HANGER BRACKETS Filed Sept. 5, 1958 2. gig-.5.

1N VENTOR.

EoLQ/Jn 5. Cabal.

Jan's Q T Tax 5715' United States Patent WEAR PLATE FOR BRAKE HANGER BRACKETS.

Roland E. Cale, Pittsburgh, Pa., assignor to Schaefer Equipment Company, a corporation of Pennsylvania- Application September 5, 1958, Serial No. 759,311 2 Claims. or. 188-209) This invention relates to wear plates for the U-shaped brake hanger brackets of railway car brake rigging.

Due to brake hanger brackets being rough castings, in which the spaced upper and lower walls may not be exactly parallel or may not be the correct distance apart, the wear plates that are inserted in the brackets often do not fit snugly. This permits the plates to vibrate, and especially to pound against the lower walls of the brackets and wear depressions in them.

It is among the objects of this invention to provide a wear plate which will be wedged tightly in brake hanger brackets regardless of inaccuracies in their shape.

In accordance with this invention, a wear plate is inserted in a railway car brake hanger that has spaced upper and lower walls provided with aligned holes through their ends. The plate rests on the lower wall and has a brake hanger seat near its inner end. The thickness of the outer portion of the plate is nearly as great as the distance between the brackets walls. This outer portion has a passage through it connecting the bracket holes. The passage normally is inclined downwardly and inwardly slightly from the upper hole. When a fastener is driven down through the holes and passage it forces the plate to cant and press its inner portion down tightly against the lower wall of the bracket.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a plan view of my wear plate;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the plate and hanger bracket in which it is mounted;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, but showing the plate held in place by a fastener; and

Fig. 4 is a side view of the fastener.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2 of the drawings, the wear plate 1 is made in one piece and has a bottom that initially rests flat on the lower wall 2 of a brake hanger bracket 3 that also has an upper wall 4 substantially parallel to the lower one. The inner half of the wear plate is provided with a concave seat 5 extending across it for receiving the upper yoke of a brake hanger (not shown) in a well-known manner. The thickness of the outer portion of the wear plate, in the area between the two pairs of aligned holes 7 and 8 through the bracket walls, is nearly as great as the distance between those walls, but small enough to permit the wear plate to be inserted in any bracket expected to be encountered. Normally, there will be a small clearance between the top of the plate and the upper wall of the bracket when the plate is first inserted.

The thick portion of the wear plate is provided between each pair of aligned bracket holes with a passage 10, which may have the same diameter as the holes. The holes and passages receive the pin-like legs of a fastener 11 that has the shape of a staple, as shown in Fig. 4. It is a feature of this invention that the passages through the wear plate are not in axial alignment with the bracket holes above and below them. On the contrary, each passage is inclined downwardly and inwardly slightly from the adjacent upper hole. Preferably, the axis of the passage crosses the common axis of the aligned holes substantially midway between the walls of the bracket, so that a small area on the top of the wear plate projects out across the lower end of the upper hole, while a similar small'area of the bottom of the plate projects in across the top of the lower hole. It also is preferred that the distance from those projecting areas to the opposite sides of the adjacent holes be about equivalent to the diameter of the legs of the fastener.

When the fastener is inserted in the two upper holes and driven downwardly, it will pass through the wear plate passages and out of the lower bracket holes as shown in Fig. 3. Since the upper and lower ends of each passage are offset relative to each other, the fastener will attempt to bring them into line with the common axis of the holes above and below them. In doing this the fastener will force the wear plates to cant or rotate in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Figs. 2 and 3, whereby the inner seat portion of the plate will be forced down tightly against the lower wall of the bracket. At the same time, the outer end of the plate will be tilted up tightly against the upper wall of the bracket. The wear plate is thus wedged very firmly in place so that it cannot vibrate or pound in the bracket. The fastener legs will be bent to some extent in passing through the wear plate at an inclination to the bracket holes, and this bending will help lock the fastener in place. If desired, the lower ends of the fastener legs can be spread apart.

It will be understood that this invention is applicable to wear plates, whether they have two passages as shown or only one passage for a fastener.

According to the provisions of the patent statutes, I have explained the principle of my invention and have illustrated and described what I now consider to represent its best embodiment. However, I desire to have it understood that, within the scope of the appended claims, the

invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically illustrated and described.

I claim:

1. The combination with a railway car brake hanger bracket having spaced upper and lower walls provided with aligned holes through their ends, of a wear plate engaging said lower wall and having a brake hanger seat near its inner end, the thickness of the outer portion of the plate being nearly as great as the distance between said walls, said outer portion having a passage therethrough connecting said holes, the passage normally being inclined downwardly and inwardly slightly from the upper hole with the center of the lower end of said passage offset inwardly relative to the axis of the lower hole to cause a portion of the plate to overlap the outer side of the lower hole, and a driven fastener extending through said holes and passage in tight engagement with the outer side of the upper hole and the inner side of the upper end of said passage and with the inner side of the lower hole and the outer side of the lower end of the passage, said engagement of the pin with the bracket and wear plate forcing the plate to cant and press its inner end portion down tightly against said lower wall.

2. The combination with a railway car brake hanger bracket having spaced upper and lower walls provided with aligned holes through their ends, of a wear plate engaging said lower wall and having a brake hanger seat near its inner end, the thickness of the outer portion of the plate being nearly as great as the distance between said walls, said outer portion having a passage therethrough connecting said holes, the passage normally being inclined downwardly and inwardly slightly from the upper hole with the center of the upper end of said passage offset outwardly relative to the axis of the upper Patented Jan. 19, 1960 hole and with the center of the lower end of said passage offset inwardly relative to the axis of the lower hole to cause portions of the plate to overlap the inner side of the upper hole and the outer side of the lower hole, and a driven fastener extending through said holes and passage in tight engagement with said overlapping portions of the plate and the sides of the holes opposite thereto, the pressure of said fastener engagement forcing the plate to cant and press its inner end portion down tightly against said lower wall.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Harbert Mar. 3, 1931 Schaefer l Jan. 5, 1937 Johnson Dec. 19, 1939 Light Mar. 19, 1940 Johnson Sept. 15, 1942 

